Landmark "Bad Boy" Decision Blackens WMX's Further - Citizens Win

On June 13, 1997 the Indiana Commissioner of the Department of Environment Management (IDEM) Michael O'Connor denied the request of Waste Management to expand its Fort Wayne Adams Center Hazardous Waste Treatment and Disposal Facility. "Indiana's Good Character law allows IDEM to effectively deny a permit application if the applicant has not demonstrated good environmental stewardship," O'Connor said. "With ChemWaste's poor environmental track record, I could not approve their expansion request." ChemWaste (Chemical Waste Management -CWM) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Waste Management Inc." This landmark citizen victory culminates a long fought citizen fight to stop and close this neighborhood landfill.

O'Connor listed violations during the last five years as

1) CWM guilty pleas to six criminal felony violations and $3 million penalties (Cause No. e - CR-22-253. 7/9/92);

2) $25,000 penalty in Alabama hazardous waste case (Cause No. 92-156-HW - 7/4/92);

3) $25,000 penalty for California hazardous waste tank spill (Cause No. 723347 - 7/29/92);

4) Various operational violations in California $65,000 penalty (Cause No. HWCA 92/93-022 - 11-13-92);

5) $15,000 penalty regarding analysis methods for incinerator ash at Port Arthur, Texas (Cause No. RCRA VI-204-H - 4/8/94);

6) $17,400 Penalty for violations of Toxic Substances Control Act in USEPA Region V (Cause No. TSCA-V-C-30-93 - 8/1/94) plus eight more cases.

The IDEM Commissioner also found that CWM apparently lied in its application by claiming they no longer were associated with Chem Waste. O'Connor found through some attempted dummy corporation slight of hand that Waste Management attempted to hide their very direct affiliation. Waste Management was caught lieing again. Indiana enacted "Good Character" law in 1990. Waste Management and CWM challenged the law but lost before the Indiana Supreme Court in 1994.

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